The field of this invention relates to an instrument to be usable by a dentist to smooth restorations and by a dental hygienist for the removing of foreign material on one's teeth.
Within dentistry, the use of restorations is exceedingly common. During the installing procedure of the restoration, it is necessary to smooth the subgingival structure of the restoration. At the present time, the devices used to smooth restorations take either the form of a high speed instrument (such as a drill) that utilize metallic burring bits or a disc which is driven at a slow speed (again by a drill). Both the bit or the disc is utilized to trim the flash of the restoration. Also, a common form of another abrading device is a sheet material strip wherein the opposing surfaces of the material strip include a sandpaper type of surface. These sandpaper strips are used manually by the dentist in order to effect smoothing of the restoration.
The use of the burring bits, sandpaper discs and strips inherently cause gingival bleeding and thus trauma to the tissue. The addition of blood will result in wetting of the tooth surface and the restoration and thusly contaminates the smoothing procedure. Also, the creation of the blood and saliva tends to prevent adhesion of the restoration to the teeth. Generally, the restoration is applied as a soft material which is then caused to adhere and harden.
In the field of professional dental care, there is also a need to utilize a tool to facilitate the removing of plaque and other accumulated foreign material from a person's teeth.